Alright I want to buy a house, but it has mold from a busted pipe that is shared by two bathrooms and two closets. I know how dangerous mold is and in all my searching i have found some pretty scary stories about how you can’t “kill” black mold and how it causes brain damage. However we are very DIY people and we know we can re build it, and redo the piping ourselves. the area effected is in total 30 ft of wall, in different rooms and closets. It is mostly the bottom half of the wall that is effected, not the top.
My questions:
1. Can we just remove the drywall, and leave the studs even if they have mold? I was thinking use bleach and a dehumidifier.
2. How dangerous is this stuff if you do treat it with bleach and scrub it off? I live in Florida and I KNOW almost every home has mold, but if i get most of it out is there still an abnormally high risk?
3. How much would it cost, JUST for removal? i don’t want them to fix the pipes or re drywall, just get rid of the mold we’ll do the rest.
another tips for black mold removal or advice from people who have experience.
Thanks!
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I know what living with a mold problem is like. My basement gets wet during periods of heavy rain, mostly shop vac, but once we had 14″ of water in the basement. Over time, mold developed. It cost a total of $5500 to get rid of the mold. This involved removing sheetrock in a small finished room (about /12 way up from the floor), and spraying a mold killer/retardant solution over the entire basement. Note that the cost didn’t include replacing the sheetrock! $1500 of this expense was for a Sani-Dri unit, a super dehumidifier that really, really has kept the basement dry. I would strongly suggest leaving this to the pros. I got very sick trying to clean this up myself, and I didn’t have black mold. The folks doing the work were dressed in hazmat suits and we were out of the house during this process. Clorox isn’t as effective as you might think. According to the experts, it doesn’t get to the spores roots, so using it creates a temporary solution. Having said that, whenever I do get any water now, I dry it up and use a garden sprayer to spray a Clorox/water solution. I then crank up the Sani Dri unit and let it dry things out. So far so good. Good luck to you, and please be careful.
You can leave the studs. They can be cleaned and treated. Even in New Orleans, people only tore houses out to the studs.
The whole mold thing has been blown out of proportion. Like you said, all houses have mold. Dirt has mold. Outside air has mold.
if you are suffering from it get help immediatly i am going threw that same problem and it ain’t fun. cost doesn’t matter
Hi Michelle,
First let me say that im so happy to hear that you are aware of the dangers of toxic mold. Yes it can cause severe brain damage.
For remediation is imparitive that everything with black mold on it or black dust like coloring needs to be totally removed and replaced including all dry wall. The wood studs will need to be scraped free not bleached. If the mold protrudes through the wood the wood will also need to be replaced. Once the walls are drywall free and the wood and insulation have been remediated the house will somehow need to be spore free as the spores once they are airborne will be on everything and be everywhere and cause more mold growth. Maybe onve the walls have been removed(before replaced) you can run ozone gas for a couple days inside the home to take care of the spores. You should also consider professional remediators, its espensive but well worth the cost-to-risk ratio in my opinion.
it may be true that some people over react to such situations, but you have identified it as black mold which usually means stachybotrys which produces toxins. it usually accompanies persistant leaks. leaks that have existed over a protracted period. a wood-frame or baloon frame house will produce a pressure diferential between the living space and the inside of the walls whenever wind strikes the outside of the house. as pressure builds on one or more outside walls, uninsolated walls will allow air flow to the living spaces. it will flow from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure. unfortunately it will then carry the mold spores with it. the main thing to remember if you tackle this job is to protect yourself while you are working with some sort of respirator. the good news is once you’ve repaired the leak you denie the mold its moisture. remove the old drywall and use a clorox type solution to clean the studs, sills and headers you wish to save. allow those areas to dry and inspect the rest of your plumbing as well as your roof ( to make sure the mold has no alturnitive supply of moisture ) and you can start your rehab. i have no idea what it would cost to have a professional team attack your mold problem, but i’m sure it’s expensive and unnecessary if you know how to handle it
Not all molds are bad. People way over react most times. The problem of cleaning a porus surface is that the mold can permeate the surface. If it was me, get rid of all the drywall and insulation affected. Clean with bleach. Paint with Bin or Kilz. You can also rent a machine that kills mold spores at Home Depot. By the time you are done if there is residual mold it will be such a small amount and covered by the new drywall that it should never affect you. If you are really worried get the mold tested and determine if it is the bad stuff or not.
Remember mold is our friend. Remember Penicilin and Cheese.